Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez, said several lawmakers have warned the oil industry that it is its own worst enemy. Noting recent reports on oil tanker spill cover-ups and federal criminal charges, Harris said, "You ask yourself, how do you trust them? I have doubts about it."

Harris referred to a settlement of federal criminal charges last week over actions by the crew of a ConocoPhillips tanker to conceal an oil spill in the Gulf of Alaska.

House Rules chairman Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, said ExxonMobil's refusal to settle the oil spill case and last year's North Slope spills on oil transit lines maintained by BP bring up credibility issues for the industry.

Speaker Harris also said extreme environmental groups with almost no employees in the state have done more to harm the Alaska industry and jobs than the oil industry’s lapses.

The Legislature is now in its second full week of a special session on oil taxes.

The House Oil adopted a new version of Gov. Sarah Palin’s proposed tax bill and Gas Committee over the weekend, increasing taxes on the oil industry by about $600 million over the current petroleum profits tax (PPT), according to estimates by a consultant to the Legislature. The committee did not change the tax rate in the PPT but adopted a new version of a progressivity tax surcharge that would bring in more money at higher oil prices than the formula in either Palin’s proposed bill or the current tax.

The House committee bill, which is now in the House Resources Committee, would net the state $4.6 billion a year at $87 per barrel oil prices compared with $4.5 billion in Palin’s bill and $4 billion brought in under the current tax.